Alpha Shield

Distraction - Abby

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Abby asked Catrina sitting on the side of the pale Omega's bed in the medical side of Sanctuary.

"I'm okay. The headache is fading, and the doctor says as soon as it's gone, I can come back."

"It's only been two days since the attack. Are they sure you can come back that soon?"

"She says it was only a mild concussion. In the outside world, I'd already be home recuperating, but they want me to stay here instead of the dorms since I won't have anyone to watch me." Catrina patted Abby's hand absently, but Abby noted how her other hand clenched the covers at her side.

"I'd watch you." she murmured. Sanctuary Omegas had to stick together. They only had each other, after all.

"I know you would, but really, it's okay. The doctor thinks I'll be released sometime tomorrow if I continue recovering at this rate."

"If you're sure..." Abby let her words trail off and Catrina filled the space she'd left.

"I'm sure. Besides, I'm on kitchen duty tomorrow so I won't complain about missing it."

Abby chuckled at the other Omega's attempt at lightening the situation with humor. While she didn't mind kitchen duty, she knew it wasn't Catrina's favorite by a long shot.

"Well, no worries then. The kitchen will be waiting for you next week."

"Ugh..." Catrina's whine of disgust made Abby smile, "Maybe I should hit my head a little harder next time."

"Cat!" With a gasp that was only partly mocking, Abby lightly slapped at her friend's hand before getting up to leave, "Naughty! I'll tell Chef Erin that you're anxious to get back."

"So rude!" Cat's light laugh followed Abby out the door as she waved at her friend before letting the portal close behind her.

In the sterile white hallway of the medical wing, the young Alpha guard from Sanctuary's rehab side straightened from where he'd been leaning against the wall chatting with another Alpha guard.

"Ready to head back, miss?"

"I'm ready if you are. I can wait in chairs over there if you need to finish your conversation."

"Of course not, Omega," the older guard insisted. He nodded at the guard who had accompanied her, "Chad's priority is your safety. He needs to get you back to the other wing."

Abby nodded at him silently. Killian had shown her pictures of three guards that he believed to be trustworthy, and his name tag identifying him as Samuel confirmed that this was one of the guards that Killian trusted. That he didn't trust the other guards at Sanctuary had gone unsaid, but Abby had easily picked up on the implication. Something was going on at Sanctuary. The place that had been her haven the last few months had suddenly turned into a place that she didn't feel completely safe in when Killian wasn't present.

He'd cautioned her not to give away the three guards he'd named as trustworthy or to mention to anyone else at Sanctuary his suspicions. It had been hard to keep things from Catrina, but she trusted Killian.

She trusted Killian.

The impossibility of her trusting an Alpha again didn't escape her. She wasn't sure when she'd dropped her guard around him, but the large, protective Alpha popped into her thoughts more and more of late. In the panic nest, he'd been warm and comforting, and his purr had melted through all of her fears and worries like a hot knife through butter. After the attack though, the reminder that he would be leaving again caused her to try and pull away from his tempting presence. The last two days, she'd been polite but distant. It wouldn't do to get close to this male only to have him leave her. She'd tried to unwind the tendrils of warmth that wrapped around her every time she entered his orbit, but the more she tried to escape him, the tighter those invisible bands seemed to envelop her soul.